Of Mind and Body
by VulkansNodosaurus
Summary: The flesh is weak - any true Son of Medusa knows that. True strength lies in metal. But both are driven by the mind, a mind that can be overcome by obsession, hatred, or, crucially, complacency. Written July 2011.


There were those who would criticize Vyx for his decision, but none of them were aboard the ship. The Space Marine sergeant looked down at the broken assassin before him and brought the blade down.

"I can tell you-"

"You can tell me nothing. Your weakness renders you worthless."

The power sword rammed through the convoluted, black-clad body. The assassin convulsed twice, then was still.

* * *

><p>"This event is incredibly odd."<p>

"Kablar," Vyx noted, "I know that."

"A rogue assassin hired to take down a Space Marine does not utterly fail like this. It would be extraordinary stupidity by whoever hired her if that was the case."

Vyx shrugged. "She was weak, so she died."

"I do not know for certain, but it is clear this is some sort of trap. The assassin's body disappeared, no?"

"It matters little."

"Or not at all. But something is strange. Let hatred be your blade. Dark plots are spreading, on Ipsil and here. Be vigilant, Sergeant, and never falter."

The Iron Father stood up and departed the room, leaving Vyx alone with his thoughts. These were quickly interrupted with the arrival of Squad Lukr.

"Brother-Sergeant?"

"Yes, Brother Apilun?"

"The drop-pods are readied."

"You have read the orders, I assume."

"Of course."

"And I assume you have no opposition to the Brother-Captain's plan?"

Apilun said nothing; Hasit spoke instead. "Of course, though it is odd that Iron Father Kablar made the decision and not the Captain."

"Politics does not concern us, and if the Iron Father believed there was a threat to the ship, then it is better we should remain. If, of course, Kablar is simply jealous of me taking that Warboss' head on Jilop"- here a few Squad members let out a chuckle- "well, that's his own fault."

And, of course, there was a threat. Rogue Assassins did not come after Astartes without a reason.

"Everyone but Hasit and Apilun, to training. Hasit and Apilun, follow me. It's been some time since I've inspected this ship."

The Tacticals followed orders, and soon three Astartes were walking along the gleaming halls of the _Metallic Head_. It was quite as expected; Systems showed all of the weaponry was in perfect working order, and no anomalies could be seen.

The exception was the drop-pods, which stubbornly refused to be seen by the ship they were descending from.

It was Hasit who asked the obvious: "What's with the Machine-spirit?"

Like all obvious questions, it lacked an obvious answer.

A couple of emergency procedures later, the screen continued to be blank. Moreover, the planet of Ipsil had disappeared from view, even if it was still very visible optically.

"It's as the Iron Father said" Vyx concluded.

"What did he claim?"

"Evil will lurk in the corners."

The three Astartes came to realization a few moments after.

"Someone on the ship."

"A serf?"

"The assassin!" Vyx exploded with delight at having solved that issue. "She was never an assassin at all, just an unfortunate serf."

"What assassin?"

"That doesn't matter."

Vyx whirred his left, bionic hand upwards.

"Separate. Search out the hallways for whoever started this. Alert the rest of the Squad as well. I'll find the Iron Father- he should know how to cleanse the machine-spirit."

Besides pointing in the search's direction, the hand changed the Sergeant's armor to battle state.

The Astartes rushed off, and Vyx purposefully strode towards the Iron Father's workspace. The hallways passed slowly, crawling with their endless cleanliness.

As Vyx watched in horror, Hasit's symbol on his display faded to red. As the Sergeant sped his step, the ship rocked. Eight symbols went to red in a blink, eight members of his Squad in the explosion's center.

Now running, Vyx faced the closed double doors of Kablar's sanctum. A couple of quick pushes did nothing, but before Vyx could smash through the door entirely, the Iron Father put a hand on his shoulder.

"Kablar!"

"Vyx. I shouldn't be telling you this, but it feels much better!"

The Sergeant stood in incredulity for a moment. "What?"

"This is done. The _Metallic Head_ will explode soon, and I don't need to inform you as to why."

"Can we stop it?"

"Can't you see, Vyx? This is punishment. Punishment for your weakness on Jilop."

The situation clarified, Vyx' sword clashed with the Iron Father's mace.

"You were dishonorable on Jilop! You had failed, and only in the end, when you almost died, did you land the final strike. I would have finished him off easily!"

"And yet I won- and you failed your oath! It was you who were weak!"

The second collision.

"You won despite weakness. A true Son of Medusa knows: the weak soon fall! This is more than accelerating the inevitable, though! This is vengeance! Vengeance for a weakling!"

"Your betrayal will be remembered, Kablar. I will never forgive it."

The third, and last, meeting of blades.

Kablar continued with a flurry of attacks. Vyx was pushed back, and at last a blow landed, throwing the Sergeant into a column.

"See? Pathetic."

Kablar advanced, mace held high for the final blow. A step at a time, the Iron Father cut the distance to the shattered architecture.

Then, as Kablar swept his mace in the direction of Vyx' face, the elder Son of Medusa found found his arm cut off.

"Too slow."

The green-armored arm fell, leaving Kablar stunned. He died stunned, too, the head coming off quickly.

By the time Kablar's body collapsed, Vyx was already on the move.

"Remember," he said to the corpse, "surprise is not weakness."

* * *

><p>Apilun looked at his sergeant, still not truly believing what Vyx had said.<p>

"All of them?"

"I have failed today, yes, and failed massively. But let us reminisce later. Hasit still breathes. Kablar made an escape pod for himself, so he's there; perhaps he knows more about why this happened. Seriously, let's run. The ship is about to explode."

"But," Apilun inquired at high speed, "why did he do this?"

"Who knows? It is better not to delve too deeply into the motivation of traitors. It was for Jilop; Kablar called it revenge. I call it jealousy."

And then, as the escape pod at last separated from the _Metallic Head_, Vyx shook his head.

"But it was, without a doubt, a weakness."


End file.
